he said his cabinet has a mission to put the economy, education and foreign policy back on a recovery track. abe said his government's most pressing challenge is to swiftly bring the country out of deflation and to lower the yen against the dollar. he also talked about his visit on saturday to the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. abe said his government will allocate funds for the disaster-hit areas as quickly as possible. he said he will tighten control of japan's remote islands and strengthen defense of them. chinese ships and aircraft have repeatedly entered japanese waters and air space around the senkaku islands in the east china sea last year. there's one challenge the prime minister won't be able to tackle any time soon. japan's ageing and shrinking population. new government figures show the number of people coming of age in 2012 matched the record low set the year before. people in japan can vote, drink and smoke when they turn 20. a survey by the internal affairs ministry found 1.22 million japanese reached the milestone in 2012. that's the same figure as a year earlie